In existing solid ink printing devices, material on which an image is to be formed is held down onto a platen assembly using a vacuum. The platen assembly includes a platen that has thousands of holes machined therein. One or more fans are used to draw air through the holes thereby creating a vacuum. When a printing material is placed on the platen, the printing material is held to the platen via the force created by the vacuum.
However, the one or more fans used in creating the vacuum are noisy and produce mechanical vibration. Further, the image formed on the printing material may include artifacts from the holes machined in the platen due to thermal non-uniformity. Still further, the solid ink that remains on the platen due to head leakage or machine timing error is difficult to clean due to the numerous holes in the platen. Ink that has not been cleaned from the holes of the platen may diminish the effect of the vacuum thereby rendering the positioning of the printing material on the platen unstable, which may affect future printing.